Tag Archives: WoodWing

WoodWing’s Elvis DAM has been updated

Elvis DAM version 6.35 has been released!

We’ve got some some nice changes:

  • Pro client: Manually linking files.
  • Elvis REST API try-out page (BETA).
  • Elvis InDesign plug-in: disabling the automatic linking of images when opening a layout.

The first item is a feature that allows you to manually create a relationship between File A and File B by dragging File A onto File B in the client. Note that Elvis auto generates relationships as well such as creating relationships when you create a variant or drag an asset over to a InDesign layout.

The second item is really nice if you are developing an integration between Elvis and a tool like a PIM. Instead of using a tool like ‘Postman’ you can use the try-out page to see if the query is returning the items you are expecting.

See more here.

Smart Mover v10.3

A new pre-release of Smart Mover is available, version 10.3

  1. The “Copy Files” Task now includes the option “Copy Files that have been stable for X seconds”. This option can be used to insure that each file is not still being written to by another application.
  2. Added “Elvis Update Bulk” Task. This Task does the same as the “Elvis Mod MetaData” Task except that all the processing is done server side with a single command. It should be used when you need to update more than a few hundred assets.
  3. Both Google and AWS Translate include the option to “Add Translation Language Code to File Name”. This allows you to translate the same file into multiple languages and place them all into the same folder.
  4. Both Google and AWS Translate can now dynamically translate into languages designated in an associated -metadata.xml file. This is done by picking “-metadata.xml XPath” in the Translation Language popup and then providing an XPath valid expression.
  5. AWS Translate now includes: Hindi, Malay, Norwegian, and Persian.
  6. If Smart Mover Manager has found an Enterprise wwSettings.xml file the path to that file is now displayed on the “About” window. This was done to make it easier to determine which wwSettings.xml file is being used.
  7. When any Task logs into Enterprise the URL to that server is now included in the Log entry. Previously only the server name was included.


  1. The Image File Processing (IM) Task now includes better error messages if it fails.
  2. Elvis login code has been refactored to better handle load balancers.

WoodWing Workflow Automation Tools: Scriba and Smart Mover

WoodWing produces two distinct workflow automation tools: WoodWing Scriba and WoodWing Smart Mover. Each of these tools has its own advantages and use cases. I will use this article to quickly introduce each of the tools. I will follow up with more articles that outline specific use cases and examples of how each tool can be used.

One key thing to note is that while each of these tools has parts that are specific to working with WoodWing’s other systems they are not limited to only working with those tools.

What is WoodWing Scriba?

Scriba Manager

Scriba, at its core, is a rules based workflow engine. A management application is used to take ‘Rules’ and group them together to create a ‘workflow’. The engine will then run the workflows based on some schedule. Workflows can also be triggered by an event coming into Scriba such as a Webhook call to a Scriba endpoint.

Workflows are created, in part, by using ‘connectors’. The connectors help to integrate the workflow engine with other tools (MySQL, InDesign Server, etc) or systems (WoodWing Enterprise, WoodWing Elvis and others). Scriba’s connectors are not limited to just working with WoodWing’s systems. Connectors can be created to talk to ANY system. Naturally WoodWing has a series of connectors available which we’ll discuss in the next post.

Because of the connector concept, one of the biggest advantages of Scriba is that the ‘workflows’ are modular. For instance, let’s say one of the workflows that is created takes content from our Enterprise product, downloads it, does a transform and sends the content to Drupal.

After the work is completed the business decides a year later to move to WordPress. In this case 2/3rds of the workflow is still viable and only the Drupal ‘connector’ needs to be switched out. This mean that a large chunk of the original workflow code is retained and there is far less rework.

What is WoodWing Smart Mover?

Smart Mover Manager

Smart Mover is similar to Scriba in that it acts as a workflow engine. Smart Mover has a ‘engine’ that is configured with a management application. The engine can run on Linux, Windows or Mac OS and the management application can run on Windows or Mac OS.

Smart Mover provides tasks to work with WoodWing Enterprise, WoodWing Elvis and tasks that provide features like uploading to FTP sites, sending email and other features.

Smart Mover implements its functionality through ‘tasks’. One or many Tasks are put together into a ‘Process’ which can be set to run at an interval such as every 5 minutes, once a day, etc. The process is triggered and the tasks within the process do their work.

What’s Next?

In the next article I’ll outline the differences between Smart Mover and Scriba as well as why some customers may choose one over the other…or use both!

Interested in seeing more?

Send us an email at sales@woodwing.com and mention Scriba and/or Smart Mover in your note. We look forward to talking to you.